600 HPS Cool Tube Grow Light System

[Al B. Fuct]

Is your intended lighted floorspace 5x5 or 5x7?

Either way, the Rule-O'-Thumbâ?¢ for HPS in flowering is 50W/sq ft. If your plantspace is 5'x5', that's 25sf, which by the Rule-O'-Thumbâ?¢ would want 1250W of HPS.

[criom]

no neither is, but it could be with enough pvc piping to create a room within a room....

well according to that rule o thumb trademarked madness i cannot handle such a large area anyway.

hadnt heard that before actually

[PharmaCan]

But see, if you are using a verticle cooltube then all that square footage stuff goes out the window because you are bradcasting the light in a completely different way. You are using the entire bulb effectively, whereas in Al's computation you have to allow for the fact that half the light is going up and then being reflected back.

I dunno - but 1000watts sounds better than 600 to me.

[Al B. Fuct]

Yep, 50W/sf is the generally accepted bell-curve centrepoint for HPS.

Tents of pandafilm within a room work great. They don't necessarily need verticals; a rectangle of 2x4 screwed to the ceiling or joists above, with a sheet of film over the top and the perimeter wrapped with film make a fine, reflective room-within-a-room. Nice technique for basements, attics, garages, etc.

[Al B. Fuct]

But see, if you are using a verticle cooltube then all that square footage stuff goes out the window because you are bradcasting the light in a completely different way. You are using the entire bulb effectively, whereas in Al's computation you have to allow for the fact that half the light is going up and then being reflected back.

Totally right, great point.

I'm also familiar with the 'stadium' or 'coliseum' type of vertical grow op you're describing, where the light is in the centre and the plants surround it. This lights the plants from one side as opposed to relatively evenly from above. I'm sure the plant phototropes to deal with one-side lighting- to some degree. There will always be 180 degrees of each bud in total shade.

However, at the end of the day, I think it's 6 o' one, half-dozen of the other. The more conventional method, with an efficient batwing reflector and flood trays (or other horizontal method) would yield relatively equivalently with less mechanical complexity.

[Al B. Fuct]

Further to that, SoG exploits the normal growing habit of cannabis. The mainstem growing tips will always produce the biggest, most resinous buds. Side branches produce smaller, less dense buds, begging the question why one would side-light and encourage such growth.

The SoG technique uses a relatively large number of small plants grown for their mainstem tips only. Branching on the lower 1/3 of the plant is pruned off in wks 1 & 3. This forms a canopy of buds well suited to the max radiation pattern of horizontal-tube, batwing reflector type systems.

[criom]

ah "less mechical complexity" those are soothing words.

since i do a scrog i guess i couldnt really do vertical then because i cant rotate the plants.

unless i could also wall mount plants too...which sounds like a fire heh


pandafilm looks very useful but every only seems to sell it in rolls of 100 feet for 90$.

weird there arnt half orders anywhere

[PharmaCan]

ah "less mechical complexity" those are soothing words.

since i do a scrog i guess i couldnt really do vertical then because i cant rotate the plants.

unless i could also wall mount plants too...which sounds like a fire heh


pandafilm looks very useful but every only seems to sell it in rolls of 100 feet for 90$.

weird there arnt half orders anywhere

Looking at this typing, I'm wondering if you've been out selling blood this morning. When you do that, you probably should limit it to 3-4 pints per day. LOL

[jus4this]

Hey, Al. B Fuct. I read a couple of your posts... and you know too much. Youre now my idol.

[Al B. Fuct]

pandafilm looks very useful but every only seems to sell it in rolls of 100 feet for 90$.

Some hydro shops will sell you cut pieces of pandafilm but they usually jack the hell out of the price for small lots. It's great stuff, well worth buying, but I agree, a whole roll is a lot. I didn't even use a whole roll when I recently rebuilt my op. Still coming up with inventive new uses for leftover pandafilm. Makes great weedmat for my flower beds.

Hey, Al. B Fuct. I read a couple of your posts... and you know too much.

cripes, I hope this doesn't mean you have to kill me now...

Youre now my idol.

Thanks for the compliment... but anyone who has run a grow op for several years will probably tell you anything I would.